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VISA/MASTERCHARGE acc~ pt ed . $1.00 shipping/handling charge ..::. (California residents add 6% tax *Apple II a trademark of Apple. Computer, Inc.
Pla11ti114 a SEEd ••• THE VANISHING HACKER Do you remember the "hacker," also known as the computer hobbyist? There he sits, late at night, programming, probing the machine's inner depths, sometimes cursing softly, others shouting ecstatically. The machine does what you tell it to do, not what you want it to do. The hacker can easily be picked out of a crowd; he (or she) is the one who bought an Apple for its own sake; who survived the "Whatcha gonna doowiddit'' inanities, and who gradually conditioned the machine to serve human needs. Sometimes by force. There was pride at the first successful simple BASIC program, and a growing competence on the part of the hacker. Explore Pascal? Maybe even venture into machine language? Sure, why not? It's even possible that the hacker's efforts filled some need in the marketplace, spawning a "basement" business or" cottage industry." It was probably inevitable, but in today's Apple world, the hacker is said to be vanishing from sight. He is being overwhelmed by the "users," who didn't buy Apples for the fun(!) of it, but to use the machine like any other appliance, for a job of work that had to be done. There is no interest there in pushing back frontiers; just keep up the inventory and that will be enough, thank you. But the "hacking" process goes through stages of development too .. . and there was a creativity born of necessity in the early days of the Apple II phenomenon that we see less of today, because there is more, and more refined, material available. Hacking is no longer necessary to achieve rapport with the Apple II. Net result: fewer people become hackers, although more people are users. Ask the market researchers; they'll tell you that the hobbyist is not the marketplace. In fact, "hobbyist" is almost a dirty word to the corporate newcomers in their three-piece suits, come to profit where hackers blazed the trail. We owe thanks to the hackers for the microcomputer. No large or even medium sized corporation brought it forth, although these are now stressing the bandwagon to near its weight limits. Of the hackers who gave this industry its start, some have been rewarded beyond dreams; others have been forgotten, or have had to endure seeing. others receive acclaim not altogether due them. Growth and corporateness has become inevitable, and that is not a climate in which hackers flourish. Apple The Company is a classic example of sudden growth and the human problems that accompany it. The attempt to impose the institutional structure of a large corporation on what conventional business wisdom calls " Camp Runamok" is, frankly, a battle, to be won only at great cost. Meanwhile, the "hackers" who created Apple The Company are leaving; most notably co-Founder and hacker folk hero Steve Wozniak 'Twas ever thus; Watt, Newcomen, Cooper, the Wrights, Ford, were all hackers. T. A. Edison was a "hacker" of the first water, unconcerned by the politics of the Corporate Research budget. And he too was cast aside by the corporate grayness that survives, "bringing good things to life" today. From a societal standpoint, it'5 probably better to have more than 500,000 people improving their lives somewhat as users, than 10,000 hackers, consumed by an electronic passion but operating in relative obscurity. So the market is better for everyone. And has the "hacker spirit" really been done in? Fat chance. Just check out the Apple / / / Group, which displays those telltale pioneering overtones. No, if the hackers "vanish" at all, they vanish like a scouting party; over the horizon, ahead of the rest of us. May -June 1982 11
Page 1 and 2: Almlr!rtTEArt~. 110rtAL ~PPLE COAET
Page 3: Buy Five Megabytes Of Winchester St
Page 6: Vol. 3 No. 2 May-June 1982 Entire c
Page 9 and 10: One Apple and$1,550 can make a lot
Page 11: "NIBBLE® IS TERRIFIC" (For Your Ap
Page 15 and 16: Yes, please send me a dealer list f
Page 17 and 18: •For ttie 48K Apple* II with Appl
Page 19 and 20: Notice that Switch 6 is marked. If
Page 21 and 22: necessitates frequent deaning. They
Page 23 and 24: Expand your Apple into a full CP/M
Page 25 and 26: Introducing the hands-on chess _,,,
Page 27 and 28: appla ®compatible! appla compatibl
Page 30 and 31: FILE CABINET STOFFER When FILE CABI
Page 32 and 33: 490 PRINT D$"MONCIO" 500 REM CREATE
Page 34 and 35: 20 0$ = CHR$ + CHR$ (4):0P $ = 0$
Page 36 and 37: 800 NEXT K 810 NEXT M 820 PRINT : I
Page 38 and 39: APPLESOFT PROGRAM FORMATTING LISTER
Page 40 and 41: Listing #1 1000 . OR $6000 ( 245 76
Page 42 and 43: 00Bl- 00B7- DAFB D61A ED34- D85
Page 44 and 45: 6084- CB A0 A6 2320 .AS -"EACH 'LIS
Page 46 and 47: 1 2880 LIS020 612E- 29 7F 3440 AND
Page 48 and 49: "E .c "' ~ 0 QI n. ~ ID "" - D0 06
Page 50 and 51: Sl20 * ~ENTS. ENTRY "TAB" IS USED S
Page 52 and 53: EDUCATIONAL USES OF THE COMPUTER by
Page 54 and 55: HELLO, OPERATOR? (What's an Operati
Page 56 and 57: system. For example, an error messa
Page 58 and 59: here is: Don't always expect books
Page 60 and 61: Based on the above discussion, we w
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SEVENTH ANNUAL COMPUTER FAIRE by Am
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make it possible for the user to us
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effort to develop it. But the Frank
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If you read last issue's installmen
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TOGETHER, LOCKSMITHT; THE INSPECTOR
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' 8 © Copyright 1981, QUAD Systems
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WILL THE REAL APPLE PASCAL PLEASE S
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GREAT LAKES DIGITAL RESOURCES IS PR
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TASC: The Applesoft Compiler. It tu
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P1'ESidE11t's MEssatE Ken Silverman
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a=: w :::c u -.... U) ;: .. .. a=:
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well as drivers for use with VisiPl
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- _..:::- =- - :::: Introducing Dat
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BCJSINESS The Versaform Business Fo
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SVA MAKING AP-PlES GROW / / 256K AP
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ooks========= 5154-9 Basic Computer
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Gaining tnotnentUill. Introducing D
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Intermediate and Advanced modules (
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High High High High TeChnology Tech
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application package featuring pie g
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3.3 disk that boots directly on 16-
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viewed-$19.95. The Book Company, 16
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ADVERTISERS' INDEX 107 Advanced Bus
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·startire and DataGuard are tradem
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